Las Vegas Summer 2012: Aria's "The Buffet"

Another one of my favorite reasons when it comes to eating in Las Vegas is because of their overflowing long list of buffets that surprises you every time whenever you eat! The quality of buffets in Vegas depends actually on which hotel's buffet restaurant you go to because not all buffets are that good and worth going to especially if your planning to pay around $40 for dinner. When my family and I came last year, we went to Bellagio's buffet and Aria's buffet (twice!) but if you compare Bellagio's to Aria's, you could easily see how the quality of food and presentation is way better in Aria than in Bellagio's. Bellagio was okay but personally for me, I thought their buffet was like a higher end version of Tulalip Casino's buffet (sorry if you guys don't like what I have to say about this place but it just didn't make me want to go back!). At least when we tried Aria for the first time, it immediately hit the following criteria of what I look for in a buffet: 1. Good quality of food 2.Wide variety of options 3.Refillable drinks 4. Great service 5. Design of the space and 6. Bang for your buck!

Since we ended up staying in Vdara again in this trip (that's where we also stayed last year), we decided to just head on over to Aria's "The Buffet" for dinner since it's directly beside Vdara. The line going in wasn't as long compared to when we were there last year but the only difference now is that they are currently offering a promotion where you can get unlimited wine and a half piece of lobster along every adult dinner that you pay for. This promo is only for their gourmet buffet dinners during Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and costs at around $38.95 per person. Imagine for $38.95, you can get a half piece of lobster, all you can drink wine/pop and all you can eat food! (King Crab and Prime Rib included!) Let me tell you.. when your in North America, only in Vegas can you see something like this! What I also like about the buffets in Vegas is that the restaurant doesn't even rush you to leave! (unless of course they're already about to close). If you could eat so much.. you could practically stay there and fill yourself up with food up to 3 hours and they won't even care! Talk about buffet paradise!

Another thing that a lot of people do at buffets is that they usually go in around the time when the restaurant is about to do the switch from breakfast to lunch or lunch to dinner. If the buffet that your going to doesn't close in between meals.. you can outsmart the price of your meal by going in the restaurant before their lunch or dinner time starts and you can pay either the breakfast or lunch price. The best deal is when you pay dinner for their lunch price because they usually have more seafood and meat options at night. This isn't really cheating.. it's more like outsmarting the system (well I like to think it that way.. plus you do get a better deal and more bang for your buck!).

Think about it, when can you even get the chance to get Prime Rib, Snow Crab, King Crab, and Jumbo sized shrimp all in the same plate in Vancouver?? Not often! We only get nicer buffets on special occasions like Mother's Day Father's Day, Easter Sunday or some other holiday, and what's sad about it is that they don't have as much variety and quantity of food compared to here in Vegas or in Asia! Other than the quality and the overflowing options of food that you get, The buffet at Aria is also very well designed. With glass lighting hanging down from the ceiling to minimal use of color, Aria's dining area is made to look modern and high end to entertain hotel guests, tourists and locals with their wide options of food. Also being in a five star hotel, it's already expected that you should definitely get five star quality service. The server that we got was very accommodating however, she was pretty slow and forgetful at our drink orders which made it a little frustrating this time around. As I recall, the service that we got last year was exceptionally good and the server that we got didn't even required us to ask for more of our drinks because by the time it was empty, he was already ready with a new set for us to exchange with him. Maybe she was just overwhelmed by the amount of things that she had to do that's why she was slower and more forgetful? I don't really know why but I'm trying to make it look like a positive thing for you guys because this place should really be one of the few places that you should try when it comes to buffets here in Las Vegas! Just minus the forgetfulness of our server this trip.. it would have been perfect! But non the less, she was still really nice and friendly throughout our whole meal. Now if only Vancouver had buffets like these.. I would probably be there practically every single day! I'm not joking!